Los Angeles city leaders marked the grand opening Thursday of a 52-unit residential complex in MacArthur Park that will house formerly homeless veterans and disabled individuals.

The Six, a permanent supportive housing complex at 811 S. Carondelet St., features common areas, solar panels and other environmentally friendly features and on-site supportive services catering to tenants’ health and wellness, according to the developer, Skid Row Housing Trust.

“Los Angeles has the highest number of homeless veterans in the nation,” said the trust’s chief real estate officer, Dana Trujillo. “The trust provides high-quality homes for people experiencing homelessness and we are compelled and honored to help those who have bravely served our country by offering veterans a home at The Six.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti, state Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon and U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra also took part in the grand opening ceremonies for The Six.

The building, with its modern design, “is something that even the trendiest and most financially sound people in the city will want to live in,” said City Councilman Gil Cedillo, whose district includes the project.

The building will instead serve as the home of people who have “struggled with homelessness, drug and alcohol disease and are putting their lives together and working toward full integration into society,” he said.

The Six is the first housing development that the trust — which operates 24 other buildings with nearly 1,800 units for homeless individuals — has built outside of the Skid Row area, where the city’s homeless population is concentrated.

“With the development of The Six, the trust is showing that its successful model based on ‘housing first’ and ‘harm reduction’ is not limited to any one neighborhood,” Trust CEO Mike Alvidrez said. “While the trust continues to operate and expand its housing in downtown Los Angeles, The Six opened the doors for the trust to share its expertise with other parts of the city.”

Cedillo said The Six will soon be followed in about four months with the opening of another permanent supportive housing development in his district — this one with a Craftsman-style design — near a Gold Line station in Northeast Los Angeles.

—City News Service

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